[Live-demo] Re: Fwd: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing
Cameron Shorter
cameron.shorter at lisasoft.com
Wed Nov 23 16:32:28 EST 2011
Johan,
I agree that it would be hugely valuable to extend the osgeolive packaging
and marketing to windows. And osgeo4w has done much of the hard packaging
work. We just need a few people to drive the packaging and qa process.
On 24/11/2011 7:56 AM, "Johan Van de Wauw" <johan.vandewauw at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Very interesting to read this experience. In fact it makes me doubt
> whether we should not also focus on providing a live dvd for windows,
> where one could test different programs without having to install
> them, and which can use the same documentation and quickstarts as the
> linux version.
> I know many people who would definitely use such a disk; and continue
> using it, but much less people who would actually do so with the linux
> version.
>
> Johan
>
> On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 3:14 AM, Cameron Shorter
> <cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:
> > osgeo-live people,
> >
> > Erik, CCed, has provided valuable feedback describing his experience
> using
> > OSGeo-Live. Thanks Erik.
> >
> >
> > On 9/11/2011 12:12 PM, Erik Lash wrote:
> >
> > Hi Cameron,
> >
> >
> >
> > Please feel free to post my comments to the list.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Erik Lash
> >
> >
> >
> > From: Cameron Shorter [mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com]
> > Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 2:46 AM
> > To: Helena Mitasova
> > Cc: Hamish; Erik Lash
> > Subject: Re: Fwd: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks for the feedback Helena and Erik,
> > Do you mind if we forward this email onto our osgeo-live email list so
> that
> > we can share this feedback with others, which hopefully can lead to an
> > improved osgeo-live?
> >
> > On 7/11/2011 3:50 PM, Helena Mitasova wrote:
> >
> > Cameron,
> >
> >
> >
> > I am not sure whether this would be useful for the next version of
> > OSGEO-Live, but I gave the USB
> >
> > that I got in Denver to one of my students (MS Windows user) to try it
> out
> > on his own as is.
> >
> > (he knows GDAL and GRASS but not much linux).
> >
> > Below is summary of his experience (he might not have used it the way it
> was
> > indented to be used),
> >
> > but note #6 which worked very well.
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> >
> >
> > Feel free to contact Eric Lash directly if you have any questions,
> >
> >
> >
> > Helena
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: "Erik Lash" <elash at ncsu.edu>
> >
> > Date: October 10, 2011 9:12:32 AM EDT
> >
> > To: "Helena Mitasova" <hmitaso at unity.ncsu.edu>
> >
> > Cc: <elash at ncsu.edu>
> >
> > Subject: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Dr. Mitasova,
> >
> >
> >
> > I’ve spent some time playing around with the OSGEO Live system this
> weekend.
> > (learning a lot about Linux)
> >
> >
> >
> > I’ve installed it on my 64 bit Windows server as a virtual drive and on
> my
> > Windows laptop as a dual boot operating system and attempted to use the
> use
> > the USB distribution. I’ll be doing my homework for this week on it.
> >
> >
> >
> > The USB installation has proved too cumbersome for easy use alongside my
> > current implementations of Windows and Windows Server and needs to be
> > tweaked a bit before it’s something that will be readily accessible to
> the
> > normal student.
> >
> >
> >
> > Six significant issues of feedback that I’ve noted so far are:
> >
> >
> >
> > 1) Documentation is not well formatted or easy to find if one is not
> > already familiar with Linux. I spent much time searching online forums
> this
> > weekend to find answers to basic use questions like -> “how does one
> tweak
> > display settings in XFce?” and “how does one connect to a network
> drive”. A
> > good set of instructions and a useful FAQ that addresses basic computer
> > integration tasks needs to be included on the desktop with the USB
> > distribution (and the other ones as well).
> >
> >
> >
> > 2) Network drives are not easily supported and the auto-mount
> features
> > don’t seem to work without significant tweaking over the network. I keep
> my
> > data and documents on a separate network drive (for security and backup
> > purposes) at home just like at the University. Setting up the OSGEO Live
> > distribution to work with my network seems an almost insurmountable task
> (to
> > this Linux novice/newbie) and I’ve had to move my documents to a portable
> > USB stick to do my homework.
> >
> > a. What would be great would be to have a feature that allows for
> the
> > installation to remember and automatically mount network directories
> after
> > reboot. Instead all I can figure out is how to set them up manually each
> > time I start the system…not efficient and somewhat time consuming.
> >
> >
> >
> > 3) Monitors – Monitors – Monitors : Still don’t have this one
> figured
> > out…I use multiple monitors with all my computers. I’ve tried to install
> and
> > use some of the add on packages and have followed the directions from
> OSGEO
> > for this but I still cannot get the OSGEO Live distribution to extend my
> > desktop onto a second monitor (or resize correctly on one screen). The
> > default seems to be for it to mirror to a second monitor which is almost
> > useless for someone like me who uses the space on the second monitor for
> > other programs.
> >
> > a. This is probably the most annoying issue of all…I can’t function
> > without multiple monitors. It’s how I prefer to work.
> >
> >
> >
> > 4) Among its other problems the USB drive installation is too big
> for
> > the USB drive. Can’t update it, add data, or add features because its
> native
> > distribution fills up the USB drive almost completely. It’s just too
> > cumbersome and bulky for ease of use. Not very much use for a class like
> MEA
> > 792 where we create and use a lot of data and often need to add features
> to
> > software à I’ve given up trying to use the USB installation and have
> found
> > that the both the dual boot and virtual installs work much better.
> >
> >
> >
> > 5) Installing OSGEO Live to dual boot with Windows is really really
> > really buggy and not easily accomplished without significant
> > effort. Documentation is not adequate and it took me several attempts and
> > system restores to get it right. Now that I have it working, though, it’s
> > great.
> >
> > a. Primary problem in setup was that the user login is incorrect ->
> > calls for lowercase letters only but the OSGEO Live default uses
> uppercase
> > letters. It gets stuck in a loop and a hard boot is required to interrupt
> > the setup process.
> >
> >
> i. Had
> > to install it once, hard boot out of the error, then was presented with a
> > user login screen during the next attempt that allowed me to create a new
> > user for the install with lowercase lettering. That allowed me to finish
> the
> > installation.
> >
> > b. Secondary problems included conflicts with Windows disk
> management
> > when trying to manually configure partitions (both existing partitions
> and
> > new ones).
> >
> >
> i. Solution
> > was to make the entire hard drive a single Windows partition in windows
> then
> > install using the “alongside windows” feature that automatically
> > repartitions windows space.
> >
> >
> ii. This
> > would have been a real BIG issue if I had data on another hard drive for
> > example a standard configuration: [ c:\Install, d:\Data ]. Instead I
> have a
> > local network that I use so I was afforded the luxury of only having a
> > single partition on my laptop. However, I usually do multi-partition my
> > drives for organization, backup, and security reasons.
> >
> > c. A tertiary problem was that the OSGEO installation sets Unbuntu
> as
> > the default OS and I didn’t want that. I still plan to use Windows first
> and
> > select the OSGEO drive primarily for doing my homework.
> >
> > i. I
> > used a recovery to restore the MBR to Windows default and EasyBCD to
> > configure a second boot option to manually select the GRUB menu…now it
> > automatically boots Windows unless I select the OSGEO install.
> >
> >
> >
> > 6) Installing OSGEO Live to VirtualBox was super easy with both the
> > vmdk and ISO. It works super good as a virtual machine. ISO installation
> of
> > a new OS seems to work better than the vmdk as it allows for custom
> > installation from scratch. The only major issue was getting the network
> > drives mounted (these include drives on the local machine because a
> virtual
> > drive acts as a separate machine) and shares had to be set up. But now I
> can
> > remote to it from my laptop and even from out of my house through my home
> > VPN…can even connect to it from campus if I want…just like an NCSU VCL
> > installation but hosted at my own house.
> >
> >
> >
> > - Erik
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I just thought you might be interested in this.
> >
> >
> >
> > I run OSGEO as a headless installation for remoting in from my laptop
> > attached to a second monitor (OSGEO L 5 gets a monitor by itself and
> Windows
> > stays on the other monitor for access to all my Windows softare)…was a
> bit
> > tricky to figure out how to do it but it turned out to be quite simple in
> > the end. There are other ways to do this but the vbs method fit my needs
> > perfectly.
> >
> >
> >
> > I use a vbs script on the server…
> >
> > '=====================================
> >
> > Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
> >
> > obj = WshShell.Run("C:\Progra~1\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxHeadless.exe -s
> > OSGEO_L5_Standard", 0)
> >
> > set WshShell = Nothing
> >
> > '=====================================
> >
> >
> >
> > Voila…use Windows standard remote desktop interface to connect to the
> > process from any Windows machine (or another remote desktop interface
> from
> > some other OS).
> >
> >
> >
> > -Erik
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Cameron Shorter
> >
> > Geospatial Solutions Manager
> >
> > Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> >
> > Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
> >
> >
> >
> > Think Globally, Fix Locally
> >
> > Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> >
> > http://www.lisasoft.com
> >
> > --
> > Cameron Shorter
> > Geospatial Solutions Manager
> > Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> > Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
> >
> > Think Globally, Fix Locally
> > Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> > http://www.lisasoft.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Live-demo mailing list
> > Live-demo at lists.osgeo.org
> > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/live-demo
> > http://live.osgeo.org
> > http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc
> >
>
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